Foundation garment and method of making same

ABSTRACT

Foundation garments having a front panel of a different fabric construction than that of the rear panel are made in continuous web form on a double needle bar warp knitting machine, then cut from the web along transverse lines and inverted. One warp-knit, single fabric is power net with stretchable-retractive yarns extending wale-wise thereof to form a circumferentially stretchable rear panel in each garment. The other warp-knit, single fabric is in a simulated weave pattern and made of less stretchable warp yarns, to form a front restraint panel of woven appearance in each tubular garment, in which the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;weft&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; portions extend axially.

[451 Nov. 28, 1972 FOUNDATIONGARMENT AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME [72]Inventor: George E. Jackson, Charleston, W.

[73] Assignee: Union Carbide (Iorporation, New

York, N.Y.

[22] Filed: Sept. 24, 1970 21 Appl.No.: 74,995

[52] US. Cl ..66/177, 66/87 [51] Int. Cl. ..A41b 9/02, D04b 23/02 [58]Field of Search ..66/171, 175, 176, 177, 190, 66/192, 193, 195, 87

[56] I References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,026,963 1/1936 Burns..66/176 2,040,058 5/1936 Mendel et al ..66/176 2,074,119 3/ l 937Boysen et al. ..66/175 3,077,758 2/1963 Siciliano ..66/192 3,520,1557/1970 Koppenberg ..66/190 3,570,270 3/1971 Koppenberg ..66/ 193 FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,090,516 3/1955 France ..66/195 1,143,42410/1957 France ..66/195 1,5 85,445 9/1969 Germany ..66/192 1,595,1817/1970 France ..66/177 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Wheatley, CO-WE-NIT, KnittedOuterwear Times, Sept. 16, 1968, pp. 61-67 Hudson, Rachel, Pantyhose &Pantygirdle, May 25,

1970, Knitted Outerwear Times, pp. 49-56 Primary Examiner-RonaldFeldbaum Attomey-Pearson & Pearson 57 u 7 ABSTRACT Foundation garmentshaving a front panel of a different fabric construction than that of therear panel are made in continuous web form on a double needle bar warpknitting machine, then cut from the web along transverse lines andinverted. One warp-knit, single fabric is power net withstretchable-retractive yarns extending Wale-wise thereof to form acircumferentially stretchable rear panel in each garment. The otherwarp-knit, single fabric is in a simulated weave pattern and made ofless stretchable warp yarns, to form a front restraint panel of wovenappearance in each tubular garment, in which the weft portions extendaxially.

8 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEBIIIIZMBTZ 3,703,820

SHEET 1 0F 2 EXHIBIT B INVENTOR. GEORGE E JACKSON W *Banm ATTORNEYSPATENTED 3,703,820

sum 2 BF 2 INVENTOR. GEORGE E. JACKSON.

PM *Puuuen ATTORNEYS FOUNDATION GARMENT AND METHOD OF MAKING. SAME CROSSREFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application relates to myapplications, Ser. No. 776,938, filed Nov. 19, 1968, entitled WARPKNI'I'IED GARMENTS AND APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MAKING THE SAME; Ser.No.

50,234, filed June 26, 1970, entitled SIMULATED- WEAVE, WARP-KNIT FABRICAND METHOD FOR MAKING SAME; and Ser. No. 55,490 filed July 16, 1970,entitled APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR WARP KNITTING A SIMULATED WOVENFABRIC, all of said applications, and this application, being owned by acommon Assignee.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention is especially related to thewarp knitting of garments on Raschel machines, especially of the doubleneedle bar type, to the end of producing foundation garments, panties,or the like, at high speed and low cost, preferably in continuous webform, ready to be cut transversely into individual garments. In myabove-mentioned patent application, Ser. No. 776,938, the two singlefabrics, warp knitted on the two needle bars of a machine such as theFashionmaster made by Cooker Machine and Foundry Company of Gastonia,North Carolina, have stretchable retractive yarns inlaid Wale-wise andare interknitted along spaced coursewise extending strips to formhorizontal, or coursewise, extending tubes. When cut along the stripsand turned through 90 the wale-wise extending stretch yarns extendcircumferentially around the tubular garment. The front panels and therear panels of the resulting garment are usually of the same knittedstructure and of equal stretchability.

In the other two patent applications mentioned above, the warp knittingmachine, whether single or double needle bar, is modified to produce asimulated weave pattern in the warp knit fabric either similar inappearance to the Co-We-Nit fabric of Karl Mayer Co., Offenbach,Geri'nany, or in a knitted structure in which the chain stitch yarnsalso serve as the weft yarns.

It has heretofore been proposed to form stretchable knitted girdles withrestraining bands, or areas, of nonstretchable fabric, by either sewinga patch or band of nonstretchable fabric over the front knitted panel,or by incorporating a set of less stretchable yarns in a central band,of sinusoidal shape and forming a tube with a single seam. The lattertype garments are disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,177,875 to Garson of Apr.13, 1965 and in US. Pat. No. 3,236,241 to Alexander of Feb. 22, 1966,and they are characterized byhaving as much restraining area in thefront panel as in the rear panel. Thus the rear panel which preferablyshould be able to stretch to conform to the shape of the wearer isunduly restrained. It will be understood that the restraining band ofthese patents is continuous around the tubular body, probably for thereason that they are warp knit in a single fabric and the restrainingwarp yarns cannot simply disappear but must be continuous with the web.

SUMMARY OF THIS INVENTION In this invention, a spot pattern, or area, ofrestraining yams which can be localized, in only one panel, and only inthe central portion of the panel, if desired, is achieved. Thus thefoundation garment whether girdle, panty, or panty girdle, is formedwith a tubular body, the major portion of the area of which is ofstretchable, retractive yarns, for example, the rear panel and theperiphery of the front panel, while the minor portion of the area isof-less stretchable, or non-stretchable, yarns, for example, the centralportion of the front panel to form an integral, built in, knittedrestraint panel.

This is accomplished by warp knitting a web of two superposed singlefabrics, inter-knitted at spaced coursewise extending strips to createcoursewise extending tubes, the strips forming the side seams or thecrotch seams when the garments are cut from the web, turned inside outand turned through for use as tubular garments. While this concept istaught in my said US. patent application Ser. No. 776,938, instead ofinlaying stretchable retractive yarns warp-wise of both single fabrics,in this invention only the single fabric which is to form the rearpanels of the garments have such stretch yarns, or strands incorporatedtherein. The other single fabric, which is identical in area with thestretch yarn fabric while in web form on the warp.

knitting machine, is warp knit of less stretchable, or non-stretchable,strands, and in a simulated weave pattern, such as disclosed in my abovementioned patent applications. Not only are the front and rear panels ofthe tubular garment each of a different knitted fabric structure, butthe stretch yarns of the rear panel extend circumferentially and theweft portions of the less stretchable weave yarns of the front panelextend axially of the tubular garment. Any desired Wale-wise area ofeither fabric could be warp knit of yarns of various denier,stretchability, or composition, but I have discovered that when the rearpanel is stretchable and the identical width front panel is lessstretchable, the resulting tubular garment blank stretches desirablywhen donned by the wearer, so that the marginal portions of the rearpanel stretch around the hips, waist and legs to form a peripheral bandaround the front panel with the restraint area centrally of the frontpanel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevationof a typical two needle bar Raschel warp knitting machine showing thecontinuous webs of horizontal tubular garments of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevation of the webs shown in FIG. 1 on an enlargedscale;

FIG. 3 is a much enlarged view of the simulated weave warp knitstructure of one of the two single fabrics;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 of another simulated weave warp knitstructure;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIGS. 3 and 4, but showing the power netstructure of the other of the two single fabrics with inlaidstretchable-retractive yarns and with filler yarns;

FIG. 6 is a rear elevation of a foundation garment cut from the web,turned inside out and ready for wear; and

FIG. 7 is a front elevational view of the garment shown in FIG. 6,donned by a wearer and in stretched condition.

DEFINITIONS The following terms are used herein, in what are believed tobe their common, generally accepted and universally applied meanings inthe textile art, as set out below.

Woven Fabrics Interlacings of two sets of yarns usually oriented atright angles to each other. One set is called warp (or woof) andgenerally constitutes the vertically oriented yarn in the apparel unit.The other set of yarns called weft (or filling) and generallyconstitutes the horizontally oriented yarn in the apparel unit.

None of the yarns in a woven fabric form a bight or loop in theinterlacement part of the structure; special fabrics have surface loopsextending above the yarn interlacement level for surface effects.

Warp Knitted Fabrics Interloopings of individual yarn threads comingfrom one (at least) set of yarns called warp. Interlooping isaccomplished by moving the yarn between loops laterally in a transfermotion from one needle (loop former) to an adjacent needle. Althougheach yarn as knitted vertically on each needle forms a chain of loopswith noticeable vertical orientation, careful study of the warp knittedfabric shows that the yarns in fact do not lie unidirectionally as in awoven fabric.

Warp Knit Net By cross interlooping two sets of warp yarns, bothoriented vertically to the fabric web (and the machine) a net (fishnet,lacenet, net net) structure is made in which the interlooping ties arediagonal to the vertical chain stitch line. There are no horizontalties.

Powernet On inserting (not necessarily knitting or looping, orinterlooping) an elastic yarn in the warp or vertical direction andunder tension, a fabric is knitted which, on release from tension,collapses or retracts and thereafter has stretch, recoverable stretch,and power (modulus) in stretch and recovery.

Knitting Simulated Weaves In order to approximate the appearance and/orthe mechanical performance of a woven fabric on a warp knitting machine,it is necessary to cause a yarn to lie at right angles to thepreponderately vertical direction of the main, original," or base warpyarn. This may be done by A. Causing a second set of vertically orientedfeed yarns to be moved horizontally (or laterally) from needle to needleby a special lateral movement of the yarn guides.

B. Inserting a yarn or yarns from a second set source which is orientedfrom feed to fabric 90 from the warp or base set of yarns.

In warp knitting, the specific laterally oriented yarns are referred toas weft yarns because they perform the intended function of a weft yarncommonly known in woven fabric.

As no knitted fabric is precisely like any woven fabric, the terminologysimulated weave is used.

As shown in FIG. 1, the warp knitting machine 20 is of the Raschel typewith two needle bars 21 and 22, two sets of guide bars 23 and 24, andsuitable powered actuation and patterning mechanism 25 to cause theguide bars to oscillate through two full strokes for each single strokeof the needle bars. The machine 20 may be a modified version of theFashionmaster made by Cocker Machine and Foundry Company of Gastonia,N.C., or any equivalent machine, capable of making the simulated weavepatterns of FIGS. 3 and 4 and the power net patterns of FIG. 5.

As disclosed in detail in the above specified patent application, Ser.No. 776,938, each needle bar 21 and 22 produces a continuous, warp knit,single fabric 27 or 28, each from a separate set of warp strands 29 or30, the single fabrics 27 and 28 being joined by interknitting one setof strands with the other at spaced coursewise extending, doubled fabricstrips 31 or. 32 which define a succession of horizontal, open-ended,coursewise extending tubes 33 or 34. The web 36 of tubular material maybe wound up on wind-up roll 37 and the web later cut transversely alongthe strips 31 and 32 to form individual generally tubular bodies orgarments, such as girdles, panty girdles, sweaters, or panties 38, thegarments 38 being turned inside out to cover the side seams 39 and 40. Acrotch seam 41 may be interknitted to form panties. f

A plurality of stretchable-retractive warp yarns 42 are inlaid wale-wiseof the stitches of the base yarn 43 of at least one single fabric 28,the power net 28 preferably including suitable filler yarns 44 to createattractive waist bands 45 and leg bands 46. The stretch yarns 42 extendcircumferentially of the garment 38, when the garment is cut from theweb and turned through thereby forming a stretchable retractive rearpanel 47 which conforms and stretches to fit the shape of the wearer asshown in FIG. 7.

The single fabric 27 is formed of warp strands 30 which are lessstretchable-retractive than the strands 42 and which preferably aresubstantially non-stretchable so that they may form a non-stretchrestraint panel, or area, 50 in the front of the garment 38. As shown inFIG. 3, the warp strands 30 may include a chain stitch yarn 51 (shown inblack), a pair of warp yarns 52 and 53, (shown cross hatched), and awarp yarn 54 designated as a weft yarn (shown in white), having weftportions 56, thereby producing a simulated weave pattern as disclosed inthe above mentioned patent application, Ser. No. 55,490, and as known inthe trade as the Co-We-Nit process of Karl Mayer Co. of Offenbach,Germany.

The single fabric 27 may also be formed in a simulated weave pattern ofrelatively non-stretchable yarns as shown in FIG. 4, and described inthe said patent application, Ser. No. 50,234. In that case, the warpyarns 30 do not include a separate warp yarn designated as a weft yarn,but include only the warp yarns 52 and 53 (shown in white) and a chainstitch yarn 55 which has a weft portion 56 (shown in black and crosshatching).

As shown in FIG. 6, each garment 38 has a stretchable-retractive rearpanel 47 with stretchable-retractive yarns 42 running circumferentiallyat least from side seam 39 to side seam 40 and has a less stretchable,simulated weave front panel 50 of identical area when flatwise andundistended.

However, as shown in FIG. 7, when the garment 38 is donned by a wearer,the marginal portion 58 of the rear panel is stretched to form aperipheral area around the front panel 50, so that panel 50 appears tobe a restraint area formed centrally of the front of the garment.Preferably the waist band 45 and leg bands 46 include warp-wiseextending stretch yarns 42 so that they are annular around the waistopening 59 and leg openings 60 and correspond to elastic waist and legbands on panty briefs or the like. When the full width of the rearfabric, 28, and two side strips of front fabric 27 are ofstretchable-retractive power net with the central portion only of frontfabric 27 being of non-stretch strands, it will be understood that themajor area of the garment is stretchable and the minor areanon-stretchable. Thus the height of the restraint panel 50 can be variedfrom merely a narrow band to the distance from leg opening to waistopening but the width remains constant as extending from side seam toside seam.

It will be understood that, if desired, the warp yarns 52 and 53 on thefront panel 50 can be of stretchableretractive material similar to thewarp yarns 42 inlaid in the power net of the rear panel 47, therebyencompassing the body of the wearer in stretch yarns, while theremaining yarns 51, 54 or 55 of the front panel can be less stretchableor non-stretchable to form the restraint area in the front panel. Thusthe panel 50 would have stretch in a circumferential, or horizontal,direction, but not in an axial, or vertical, direction.

It should be noted that when the tubular garments of the invention arecut from the web and turned through an angle of 90, thestretchable-retractive, inlaid warp yarns 42 of the rear panel willextend circumferentially of the body of the wearer while the weftportions 56 of the simulated weave weft yarns 54 or 55 of the frontpanel will extend axially of the tubular garment.

What is claimed is:

1. A warp knitted garment comprising a front panel and a rear panel,each having a separate set of warp strands, and each panel interknittedwith the other along opposite side edges to form a generally tubularbody having a waist opening at one end and limb openings at the otherend;

the warp strands of said front panel being warp knit into a simulatedwoven fabric with the warp strands thereof, which serve to simulatewoven weft strands, having weft simulating portions extending coursewisethereof but axially of said body,

the warp strands of said rear panel being warp knit into a warp knittedfabric of knitted structure, different from that of said front panel andincluding warp strands of stretchable-retractive material inlaidwale-wise thereof but extending circumferentially of said body from onesaid side to the other,

said rear panel being thereby stretchable circumferentially of saidtubular body to conform to the shape of the wearer.

2. A warp knitted garment as specified in claim 1, wherein:

said garment is a pair of panties, said body includes a crotch areaformed by interknitting the strands of one said panel with the strandsof the other said panel in a central narrow strip and the said warpstrands forming the front panel of said panties are lessstretchable-retractive than the stretchable-retractive warp yarns ofsaid rear panel.

3. A warp knitted garment as specified in claim 1, wherein:

the said warp strands forming said front panel arenon-stretchable-retractive to form, when said garment is worn, abuilt-in integral, restraining area centrally, and a band of saidstretchable warp knit fabric of the rear panel peripherally, of saidfront panel. 4. A warp knitted garment as specified in claim 1, wherein:

the warp strands of said front panel are of nonstretchable-retractivematerial but said front panel includes a waist band portion alongsidesaid waist opening, and a leg band portion alongside said limb openingsof said rear panel fabric, including said inlaid, warp-wise-extendingretractive, strands for forming elastic waist and leg bands entirelyaround said tubular garment. 5. A warp knitted stretchable-retractivegarment comprising a generally tubular body, the major area of whichbody, when stretched on the body of the wearer, is of power net fabricwith stretchable-retractive yarns extending Wale-wise of said fabric butcircumferentially of said body;

the warp strands of a minor area of said tubular body being warp knittedin a simulated weave pattern and of relatively non-stretchable yarns andincluding warp strands designated as weft strands with the weft portionsof said weft strands of said simulated weave pattern extendingcourse-wise of said fabric but axially of said tubular body. 6. Agarment as specified in claim 5, wherein: said garment is a pair ofpanties having a front panel and a rear panel, the strands of saidpanels being interknitted in coursewise-extending strips to formopposite interknitted side seams and an interknitted crotch area andwherein,

said minor area of simulated weave pattern constitutes the said frontpanel to thereby form a restraint panel and said major area of power netconstitutes the said rear panel to thereby provide stretchcircumferentially of said body.

7. The method of making a continuous web blanks, which comprises thesteps of simultaneously warp knitting a pair of superposed singlefabrics, each from a separate set of warp strands, on the front and backneedle bars of a warp knitting machine, one set of which includesstretchable-retractive yarns and the other set of which comprisesnon-stretchable yarns;

forming power net stitches, while inlaying said stretchable-retractiveyarns Wale-wise in one said single fabric to form laterally stretchablerear panels in said web;

forming simulated weave stitches in the other said single fabric ofdifferent knitted structure from said power net stitches to formnon-stretchable restraint front panels of woven appearance in said web;and

interknitting the strands of said single fabrics into a double fabric,along coursewise extending strips to form interknitted side seams and aninterknitted crotch area in each successive panty blank of said web ofpanty stretchablesteps of simultaneously warp knitting a web of twosuperposed single fabrics on said two needle bar machine, each of adifferent knitted structure, one needle bar forming power net withstretchableretractive yarns inlaid Wale-wise thereof and the otherneedle bar forming a base, warp knit fabric of nonstretchable yarns in asimulated weave pattern, in which certain warp yarns have weft portionsextending coursewise thereof,

intermittently interknitting the strands of one said fabric with thestrands of the other to form coursewise extending strips of doubledfabric constituting spaced apart interknitted side seams definingsuccessive said garments in said web,

then cutting said successive garments from said web along saidinterknitted side seams, turning said garment inside out and turningsaid garments through an angle of so that said walewise extending,stretchable-retractive yarns run circumferentially of the rear panel andsaid coursewise extending weft portions run axially of the front panelof said tubular garments when worn.

1. A warp knitted garment comprising a front panel and a rear panel,each having a separate set of warp strands, and each panel interknittedwith the other along opposite side edges to form a generally tubularbody having a waist opening at one end and limb openings at the otherend; the warp strands of said front panel being warp knit into asimulated woven fabric with the warp strands thereof, which serve tosimulate woven weft strands, having weft simulating portions extendingcoursewise thereof but axially of said body, the warp strands of saidrear panel being warp knit into a warp knitted fabric of knittedstructure, different from that of said front panel and including warpstrands of stretchable-retractive material inlaid wale-wise thereof butextending circumferentially of said body from one said side to theother, said rear panel being thereby stretchable circumferentially ofsaid tubular body to conform to the shape of the wearer.
 2. A warpknitted garment as specified in claim 1, wherein: said garment is a pairof panties, said body includes a crotch area formed by interknitting thestrands of one said panel with the strands of the other said panel in acentral narrow strip and the said warp strands forming the front panelof said panties are less stretchable-retractive than thestretchable-retractive warp yarns of said rear panel.
 3. A warp knittedgarment as specified in claim 1, wherein: the said warp strands formingsaid front panel are non-stretchable-retractive to form, when saidgarment is worn, a built-in integral, restraining area centrally, and aband of said stretchable warp knit fabric of the rear panelperipherally, of said front panel.
 4. A warp knitted garment asspecified in claim 1, wherein: the warp strands of said front panel areof nonstretchable-retractive material but said front panel includes awaist band portion alongside said waist opening, and a leg band portionalongside said limb openings of said rear panel fabric, including saidinlaid, warp-wise-extending stretchable-retractive, strands for formingelastic waist and leg bands entirely around said tubular garment.
 5. Awarp knitted stretchable-retractive garment comprising a generallytubular body, the major area of which body, when stretched on the bodyof the wearer, is of power net fabric with stretchable-retractive yarnsextending wale-wise of said fabric but circumferentially of said body;the warp strands of a minor area of said tubular body being warp knittedin a simulated weave pattern and of relatively non-stretchable yarns andincluding warp strands designated as ''''weft'''' strands with the weftportions of said ''''weft'''' strands of said simulated weave patternextending course-wise of said fabric but axially of said tubular body.6. A garment as specified in claim 5, wherein: said garment is a pair ofpanties having a front panel and a rear panel, the strands of saidpanels being interknitted in coursewise-extending strips to formopposite interknitted side seams and an interknitted crotch area andwherein, said minor area of simulated weave pattern constitutes the saidfront panel to thereby form a restraint panel and said major area ofpower net constitutes the said rear panel to thereby provide stretchcircumferentially of said body.
 7. The method of making a continuous webof panty blanks, which comprises the steps of simultaneously warpknitting a pair of superposed single fabrics, each from a separate setof warp strands, on the front and back needle bars of a warp knittingmachine, one set of which includes stretchable-retractive yarns aNd theother set of which comprises non-stretchable yarns; forming power netstitches, while inlaying said stretchable-retractive yarns wale-wise inone said single fabric to form laterally stretchable rear panels in saidweb; forming simulated weave stitches in the other said single fabric ofdifferent knitted structure from said power net stitches to formnon-stretchable restraint front panels of woven appearance in said web;and interknitting the strands of said single fabrics into a doublefabric, along coursewise extending strips to form interknitted sideseams and an interknitted crotch area in each successive panty blank ofsaid web the knitted structures formed on said front and back needlebars being different but being formed into successive spaced open-ended,horizontal tubes by spaced horizontally extending interknit bands of thesame knitted structure.
 8. The method of making foundation garments,each having a warp knitted power net fabric base with a warp knittedsimulated weave front panel on a two needle bar warp knitting machine,which comprises the steps of simultaneously warp knitting a web of twosuperposed single fabrics on said two needle bar machine, each of adifferent knitted structure, one needle bar forming power net withstretchable-retractive yarns inlaid wale-wise thereof and the otherneedle bar forming a base, warp knit fabric of nonstretchable yarns in asimulated weave pattern, in which certain warp yarns have ''''weft''''portions extending coursewise thereof, intermittently interknitting thestrands of one said fabric with the strands of the other to formcoursewise extending strips of doubled fabric constituting spaced apartinterknitted side seams defining successive said garments in said web,then cutting said successive garments from said web along saidinterknitted side seams, turning said garment inside out and turningsaid garments through an angle of 90* so that said walewise extending,stretchable-retractive yarns run circumferentially of the rear panel andsaid coursewise extending weft portions run axially of the front panelof said tubular garments when worn.